🥑 you got ninety-nine problems

Have you ever run into a roadblock while outlining, drafting, or revising your story?

Silly question—of course you have, if you’ve spent any amount of time as a writer.

A rock-solid premise won’t sidestep those questions. It’ll force you to engage them.

And this is a good thing.

Let’s talk about the challenges you’ll need to consider when crafting your manuscript. We’re not solving anything right now—we’re seeking out problems, because it’s better to face them now than three hundred pages and three pints of Ben and Jerry’s into an existential crisis.

Here are some examples of challenges to consider, divided up by category.

The Characters

• How do I introduce a wide range of characters and keep them relevant to each other over time?

• How do I develop a relationship between two characters who already know everything about each other?

The Setting

• How do I make a futuristic world feel relatable?

• How do I make the five nations of my epic fantasy feel distinct and interesting?

The Protagonist

• How do I create sympathy for a protagonist who is an awful person?

• How do I create change for a protagonist who starts out basically perfect?

The Theme

• How do I put a unique spin on a classic theme or motif, e.g., rags to riches?

• How do I create a moral framework without shoving the theme in readers’ faces?

Now look at your story. Do you have a large cast of characters or a massive setting? What if your story takes place in a single room with only three characters? What if we can see the protagonist’s thoughts, but they need to hide a secret from the reader until the 75% mark? How do you keep the love interests from falling in love at first sight even though they’re immediately attracted to each other? And so on.

The point is this: you need to ask questions you can’t answer yet. You’ll discover the answers in time, as soon as you know what to ask.

Make a list of 3–6 story challenges for your current premise.

Then we’ll discuss the core of your story’s potential: the designing principle.

(For more on this, definitely check out The Anatomy of Story by John Truby.)

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^{Avocado Bites is a publication of Avocado Tree Press, LLC, that helps you revise your stories one bite at a time. We love working with indie and traditionally published authors on fiction manuscripts—and if that’s you, welcome to our target audience.}

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^{Addison Horner is the chief editor of Avocado Tree Press. Here’s his newsletter. It’s different but still pretty good.}